Lzh Sarv Bu Vb Ss 3Indecent Speech

Exposition of the Duṭṭhullavācā Sutta (Coarse Speech)

Background

The Duṭṭhullavācā Sutta is part of the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically the Sārvāstivāda Bhikṣu Vibhaṅga, the analytical corpus of the discipline for bhikkhus. The Vinaya Piṭaka has been the foundation of communal monastic life in the Sangha from the Buddha’s time to the present.

According to the early tradition, the rules in the Vinaya Piṭaka are not imposed restrictions but guidelines that help practitioners protect the mind, cultivate concentration, and develop insight. Each rule has an origin story (nidāna), recounting a specific situation that occurred, from which the Buddha established a standard to regulate the conduct of the Sangha.

The Duṭṭhullavācā Sutta focuses on rules concerning coarse, improper, or ethically unsuitable speech for those who study the Buddhadharma. This is one way of training in the management of speech, one of the three kinds of action, body, speech, and mind, to which practitioners must attend.

Main Content

This Vinaya teaching states that bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs should not use crude, frivolous, inflammatory, or divisive words in the community. Coarse speech (duṭṭhullavācā) includes not only vulgar words, but also baseless statements, slander, or speech intended to damage the honor of others.

According to the traditional Vinaya Piṭaka, speaking such words has three main consequences. First, it violates the purity of the practitioner’s mind. Second, it negatively affects harmony in the Sangha and erodes relationships among practitioners. Third, it diminishes the faith of devoted laypeople in the Three Jewels.

The sutta also identifies criteria for recognizing whether speech is coarse: whether the words are crude, whether they wound the listener’s mind, whether they cause division, and whether the motivation behind them comes from aversion, greed, or delusion. These criteria help practitioners develop the ability to restrain speech.